Alpha-Synuclein Oligomers and Neurofilament Light Chain Predict Phenoconversion of Pure Autonomic Failure.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of alpha-synuclein (αSyn) oligomers and neurofilament light chain (NfL) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with pure autonomic failure (PAF) as markers of future phenoconversion to multiple system atrophy (MSA). METHODS: Well-characterized patients with PAF (n = 32) were enrolled between June 2016 and February 2019 at Mayo Clinic Rochester and followed prospectively with annual visits to determine future phenoconversion to MSA, Parkinson's disease (PD), or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). ELISA was utilized to measure NfL and protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) to detect αSyn oligomers in CSF collected at baseline. RESULTS: Patients were followed for a median of 3.9 years. Five patients converted to MSA, 2 to PD, and 2 to DLB. NfL at baseline was elevated only in patients who later developed MSA, perfectly separating those from future PD and DLB converters as well as non-converters. ASyn-PMCA was positive in all but two cases (94%). The PMCA reaction was markedly different in five samples with maximum fluorescence and reaction kinetics previously described in MSA patients; all of these patients later developed MSA. INTERPRETATION: αSyn-PMCA is almost invariably positive in the CSF of patients with PAF establishing this condition as α-synucleinopathy. Both NfL and the magnitude and reaction kinetics of αSyn PMCA faithfully predict which PAF patients will eventually phenoconvert to MSA. This finding has important implications not only for prognostication, but also for future trials of disease modifying therapies, allowing for differentiation of MSA from Lewy body synucleinopathies before motor symptoms develop. ANN NEUROL 2021;89:1212-1220.

Differential modulation in binding of ketoprofen to bovine serum albumin in the presence and absence of surfactants: spectroscopic and calorimetric insights.

Surfactants have long been implicated in the unique static and dynamic effect on the structure and function of serum albumins. However, there is very little information on the mode of interactions of drugs to serum albumins in presence of surfactants. The importance of such studies lay in the fact that apart from binding to serum albumins, surfactants are known to radically influence the solvents' micro environment and protein structure. Thus, we have studied the binding of the racemic form of ketoprofen with bovine serum albumin at pH 7.4 in the presence and absence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, sodium dodecyl sulfate, Triton X-100, and NaCl. The structural studies of ketoprofen with bovine serum albumin as investigated by circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed a significant stabilization of bovine serum albumin. However, the combined presence of the surfactants, NaCl and ketoprofen, demonstrated an extremely erratic behavior in terms of stabilization. Further the values of Stern-Volmer and dynamic quenching constant suggested the binding site of ketoprofen to be scattered in the region of domain I B and II A, close to Trp 134. The results of differential scanning calorimetry revealed that the binding of ketoprofen to bovine serum albumin leads to its temperature-dependent separation into two units. The binding parameters of bovine serum albumin obtained from isothermal titration calorimetry in the combined presence of ketoprofen and surfactants/NaCl correlate well with the differential scanning calorimetry studies further confirming the localization of ketoprofen in domain I B and II A. In the combined presence of surfactants, NaCl and ketoprofen, the binding of ketoprofen to bovine serum albumin exhibited altered binding parameters far different from the binding of ketoprofen alone. Overall, the experimental findings strongly indicated positive as well as negative modulation in the binding of ketoprofen to bovine serum albumin in the presence of ligands.

Glycine betaine: a widely reported osmolyte induces differential and selective conformational stability and enhances aggregation in some proteins in the presence of surfactants.

In this study, we extensively report the effect of glycine betaine during the refolding of partially folded bovine α-lactalbumin (α-LA) in presence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB), and Ribonuclease A (RNAse A) in presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) by different complementary biophysical, light scattering, and microscopic techniques. Though a substantial refolding/compaction was observed in both the studied proteins, the fluorescence studies contradicted the finding obtained from circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD) in case of α-LA. CD stopped flow showed extensive presence of intermediates during the refolding of proteins which could potentially lead to aggregation. The aggregates as observed in dynamic light scattering (DLS), in α-LA were massive as compared to RNAse A and was directly proportional to betaine concentration. The zeta potential confirmed that the aggregates are a direct manifestation of strong aggregating and/or immense preferential excluding tendency of GB and not because of charge neutralization; however a possible role of conformational change as observed in FTIR spectroscopy cannot be completely ruled out. In contrary though RNAse A showed a substantial refolding, the final state of the folded protein was significantly different from the native state. These findings for α-LA and RNAse A were further supported by electron microscopic and thermodynamic studies. We thus propose that betaine has a strong macromolecular excluding tendency, primarily directed to shield the hydrophobic exposure either by refolding or aggregation, and depending on the hydrophobicity of the proteins, the functional restoration of the protein is manifested.

Biophysical analysis of partially folded state of α-lactalbumin in the presence of cationic and anionic surfactants.

The role of different types of interactions and their contribution in the stabilization of bovine α-lactalbumin (α-LA) molten globule in presence of cationic surfactant, hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB) and anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) have been examined using a combination of spectroscopic, light scattering and calorimetric techniques. The results correlated well with each other and were used to characterize the partially folded states of the protein both qualitatively and quantitatively. At lower concentration of the surfactants, the thermodynamic parameters obtained from UV-visible spectroscopy suggested an increased exposure of non-polar groups in HTAB while a possible restructuring of non-polar groups were indicated in SDS. The fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy showed the formation of an intermediate state at various concentrations of HTAB and SDS while the lifetime measurements supported the assumption of protein-surfactant complex stability in HTAB as compared to SDS. The hydrodynamic diameter and the ζ-potential were analyzed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) which also implicated the combined influence of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions in protein unfolding in HTAB and only hydrophobic interactions in SDS. The binding parameters for ANS obtained from isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC) measurements suggested a high stability of α-LA molten globule and the role of enthalpic and entropic contribution in the binding of ANS in HTAB. It also indicated the fragility of α-LA molten globule in SDS. The possible binding sites as well as the interactions of ANS with the partially folded protein were also studied from the thermodynamic parameters obtained from the ITC.